1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a contents retrieval device for retrieving contents that the user wishes to view from among a plurality of contents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a retrieval method for retrieving the contents that the user wishes to view from among the large amount contents stored in a server and others, there are many methods for generating a list of contents that match a search keyword input by the user, and presenting the list of contents. These methods are effective for a user who can clearly determine an appropriate search keyword that is necessary to receive the desired contents, and who can assume/understand the contents to be retrieved.
However, a user who cannot come up with a keyword which represents the contents to be retrieved cannot input a search keyword. For this reason, the user cannot retrieve the contents using this method. This often happens when retrieving entertainment contents such as TV programs, music, and movies.
In response to the problem, there has been reported another type of contents retrieval technology where multiple keywords are presented by the system, and the user repeats a selection of keywords that they are interested in to narrow down the contents, achieving retrieval of desired contents interactively (see, for example, Patent Reference 1).
The contents retrieval device according to Patent Reference 1 (document processing device) acquires search a condition together with the search keyword when starting a search, and presents a related keyword related to the search keyword by limiting the search area. This device achieves presentation of the related keywords which facilitates narrowing down the contents by narrowing down the search area when starting the search. Therefore, the user can retrieve the desired contents only by repeating the selection of the related keywords presented by the content retrieval device. This method is effective for a user who is not sure of the keyword representing the contents to be retrieved.
[Patent Reference 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H10-134075.